MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) vs. Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) Head-To-Head Analysis

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) and Legal & General Group (OTCMKTS:LGGNY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for MGIC Investment and Legal & General Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MGIC Investment	0	4	1	0	2.20
Legal & General Group	1	3	0	1	2.20

MGIC Investment presently has a consensus price target of $27.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.62%. Given MGIC Investment’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MGIC Investment is more favorable than Legal & General Group.

Profitability

This table compares MGIC Investment and Legal & General Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MGIC Investment	60.84%	14.33%	11.21%
Legal & General Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.6% of MGIC Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Legal & General Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of MGIC Investment shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

MGIC Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Legal & General Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. MGIC Investment pays out 19.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGIC Investment has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares MGIC Investment and Legal & General Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MGIC Investment	$1.21 billion	5.04	$762.99 million	$3.14	8.70
Legal & General Group	$13.51 billion	1.55	$244.08 million	N/A	N/A

MGIC Investment has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Legal & General Group.

Volatility & Risk

MGIC Investment has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Legal & General Group has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MGIC Investment beats Legal & General Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MGIC Investment

MGIC Investment Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance, other mortgage credit risk management solutions, and ancillary services to lenders and government sponsored entities in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The company offers primary mortgage insurance that provides mortgage default protection on individual loans, as well as covers unpaid loan principal, delinquent interest, and various expenses associated with the default and subsequent foreclosure. It also provides pool insurance for secondary market mortgage transactions; and contract underwriting services, as well as reinsurance. The company serves originators of residential mortgage loans, including savings institutions, commercial banks, mortgage brokers, credit unions, mortgage bankers, and other lenders. MGIC Investment Corporation was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

About Legal & General Group

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets. The LGC segment provides investment strategy and implementation, and direct investment and structuring services. The Retail segment offers protection products, such as health, disability, critical illness, and accident; individual term assurance; reinsurance; savings and death benefits; annuities; lifetime mortgages; lifetime care plans; retirement interest only mortgages; and workplace savings scheme that provides corporate pension scheme solutions. It is also involved in the unit trust and institutional fund management, mortgage finance, treasury, building project and modular housing development, general insurance, and open-ended investment businesses. In addition, the company engages in the investment, operation, management, trading, and letting and operation of leased real estate; and construction of commercial buildings, financial intermediation, pension tracing and transfer, insurance agents and brokers, fund general partner, commercial lending, venture capital investing, contractual scheme, investor alternative investment fund, collective asset-management, and investment management activities; and provision of investment advisory, business information consultancy, and technology services. Legal & General Group Plc was founded in 1836 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.